


Empathy

by SerialKillerQueen



Series: Eldritch [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Mind Flayer season 3 form, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate take on the mind flayer and everything feels less awful, Canon Rewrite, Fix-It, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Injury, Other, POV Monster, Playing fast and loose with the mind flayer's powers, do not copy to another site
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 09:01:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20486291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerialKillerQueen/pseuds/SerialKillerQueen
Summary: Definition of empathy: The action of understanding, being aware of.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will warn that there are vibes to this that could be read similarly as non-con. It is _not_ non-con nor is anything like that happening but the discussions of possession could be read that way.  
This is not canon to 'Debt' this exists in it's own canon!  
Stranger Things and its characters do not belong to me. All rights go to their respective owners.

When the Gate had reopened it had realizing with a burst of _frustration(?)_ that it was TrappedCutOffSeparate from the rest of itself.

Weak. It was _weak._

Weak and it's true form couldn't interact with this place.

It had had a different form once, the boy, Will, it had had a... host.

A host that had fought it, had defied it. Had...

Taught it.

It had never had much of a reason to learn about those here, about humans. Had certainly never cared(?) to learn about them.

It was meant to be here, it was meant to spread, it was meant to invade.

It wasn't meant to... understand, these creatures. 

It had heard what the boy thought when in his head, had begun to understand certain... emotions, concepts. 

'Violation' was a concept it had begun to grasp because of Will. Because of what Will felt about its presence.

It shouldn't... care, it shouldn't effect it at all. And yet when the gate opened and it sensed something, a human, no longer alive (yes alive, their version of 'life' was different than its but it was life) it had sank into that... corpse's skin, instead of turning to any breathing beings.

There were problems with that, its current host wouldn't rot, had been freshly dead (it wondered what had killed the human out here in this empty place), it would not let it rot, but it did not look alive. Its own form shown through to easily, black veins and black eyes that could not be hidden.

It could not spread when it could not hide.

It had not dealt with this AngerFrustrationHesitation for long when it sensed life nearby, a human, and it smelled his blood.

He had... crashed his car. Here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd!  
To explain a few things.  
Some of the pauses and question marks are to emphasize MF's growing understanding of emotions and human concepts, it's like a kid y'all, it's learning. It's also to mimic the slow, deliberate way it speaks.  
The appearance I imagine it's corpse form to have is essentially The Kid from Castle Rock (made by Hulu), look up a pic of him and imagine more black eyes and dark veins! Because Bill Skarsgård is just to good at playing inhuman characters for me to not use him here.  
No I honestly didn't put much thought into who the man who got murdered by the steelworks was, he's a narrative device because I felt a human form worked better than a flesh blob of rats.  



	2. Chapter 2

It held its (the body's) hand out and _pulled_ and heard a scream as the human was dragged inward, to it.

It felt his struggling, trying to grab something, to get _in it's way_ and it _growled_ deep in its chest.

A moment later he tumbled down the stairs, the blood smell was stronger now, perhaps it had injured him further.

It moved forward on limbs that jolted...UnnaturalWrong not entirely responding as they should. It knelt and grabbed the human's jaw.

It SmelledHeardFelt fear and... a sense of familiarity? Perhaps?

It felt... curiosity.

It let its mind brush his own, images springing to the surface.

A man, a man who towered over him, who pushed him to the ground, over and over again.

Will had taught it the concept of 'father' quite early. Will's father was in the darkest places in his mind. In his fears.

The human... Billy, felt that same fear. The same pain.

He would feel the same sense of invasion wouldn't he. 

It was meant to connect, not one mind.

Humans... were not.

_'Violation.'_

It let him go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To explain a few things.  
Some of the pauses and question marks are to emphasize MF's growing understanding of emotions and human concepts, it's like a kid y'all, it's learning. It's also to mimic the slow, deliberate way it speaks.  
The appearance I imagine it's corpse form to have is essentially The Kid from Castle Rock (made by Hulu), look up a pic of him and imagine more black eyes and dark veins! Because Bill Skarsgård is just to good at playing inhuman characters for me to not use him here.  
No I honestly didn't put much thought into who the man who got murdered by the steelworks was, he's a narrative device because I felt a human form worked better than a flesh blob of rats. (And yes MF absolutely has telekinesis here).  
I hope you enjoy!


End file.
